Sierra
by BlackRoseLove
Summary: When a leak at MI9 leads to a file on another teenage spy team being stolen, the three agents are split up and sent to other units around the country. When one lands in the St. Hope's team, will she bring the SKUL threat with her? Chapter 9 up x
1. Early Retirement

Communications at MI9 had never been a problem. The military intelligence corporation had three departments dedicated to communications-or comms- as they were more aptly known in the business. MI9 was well ahead of MI5, MI6,_ and _MI7 in comms. But now as twenty-seven year old Jaycee Constance sat in front of a thirty-two inch computer screen, she was fairly shocked at the levels of communication strength on the screen, all of which had dropped to red. They were centimetres off of rock-bottom. And yet, sixteen minutes earlier, when she had left for her lunch break all had been on green. She picked up the emergency telephone and pressed nine, and then one. Immediately the line was rerouted to her boss Jason Lebbs, head of comms. The line was an emergency line, designated to only be used in utter peril. Jaycee was positive that a loss of comms was qualified for the red line, so she was surprised when Jason did not pick up immediately. Thirty-seven seconds later, he did pick up, and Jaycee relayed the emergency message. As in all emergencies, a senior member of staff is required to ascertain the emergency, and then take further action. As a junior member of staff, Jaycee was required to wait until the staff member reached her and she was positive that it would be Jason coming to check. Jaycee felt uncharacteristically important, sitting tall in the stiff office chair and waiting for a full scale emergency to explode around her. She had been positive that Jason would be coming in, that she jumped when she heard Laura McKenzie from Concealed Comms call her name.

"In here," Jaycee called shakily, trembling with anticipation. Laura entered the room, looking justly surprised when she noticed the levels on the screen. Jaycee swivelled around to face the computer monitor, and began explaining what had happened. But half-way through her explanation, she froze. Something cold and metallic was being pushed against her temple.

"Thank you my dear. A wonderful explanation. But I'm afraid that _my _people have no interest in this."

"Your people?" Jaycee Miranda Constance got no further. Her puzzlement into the strange riddle was the last thought she ever had. The gun went off five centimetres from her head. The girl fell from her office chair into an empty room. Laura had gone.


	2. Paperwork

_**Hi- sorry- first story forgot the disclaimer on the first chapter so...**_

_**I don't own any of the characters or places apart from MI9 Comms HQ, Jaycee, Laura, Kate, Liam, Jack and Jonathon. They may be more characters and places later on... **_

_**GoldenPixieDust xx **_

It had been a long day. Jonathon McCrae sat behind his desk, rubbing his temples, trying to clear the day's events from his mind. It had been hectic- even by MI9 standards- ending with a complete loss of comms, a leak in MI9 getting away, and the murder of a young secretary in Comms Monitoring. His wife was going to be annoyed when he got home late. But he had to wait until everything had been checked in. Highly secret files were kept in this building. If the intruder had made off with one of them, it would mean losses, maybe a few 'accidents' and a hell of a lot more paperwork for Jon McCrae.

A knock at the door startled him out of his reverie. He leaned over to his computer and checked the security scanner. An emotionless computer-generated female voice echoed from the laptop speakers.

"Conrad, Alexandra. Personal Assistant to Head of Communications..." He cut across her, and pressed the spacebar to open the door.

A frail middle aged woman entered, holding a printed sheet. Her face was grave.

Jon stood up, and leaned over the desk, reaching for the paper.

"Has everything been checked in?"

"Not everything."

He had spotted the cross next to one of the files. He looked up, alarmed.

"This is what they came here for? How did they know?"

"We aren't sure, but the leak got away. They've got less than twelve hours before..."

"What do you suggest?"

Alexandra was startled. She was the PA not the boss. She hesitated. Jon smiled.

"Get an emergency Option Seven out on them."

"Sir." Alexandra said, turning on her heel, and walking smartly out of the office. Jon sat down, took off his glasses and rubbed his nose where the grip had pinched it. It was irritating that this should happen now. But three weeks wasn't so long, and safety was priority. But all thoughts of the file went out of his head as he headed home to his now cold cottage pie.


	3. Chemistry Homework

**Disclaimer: Same as**

_Two Days Later_

"Oscar! Oscar Cole!" A very irritated looking teacher waved Oscar's chemistry exercise book under his nose. Oscar had been dozing, and hadn't noticed the teacher marching up to his desk and snatch up his unfinished homework from under his nose. But he noticed her now, as she shouted at him, waving his book so close to his face that it almost hit him.

"It isn't good enough young man. You missed my last lesson, and now you think it acceptable to skive on your homework? Well I have had enough. I am going to Mr. Flatley after this lesson to suggest you for _severe_ punishment. Do you hear?"

He sighed with relief as she turned on her heel back to the board. Something chirruped faintly in his pocket. It wasn't his pencil - that was poking out of his pencil case. It was the mobile phone he'd left in there. Checking to see that the teacher was occupied, he pulled the phone from his pocket, and was surprised to see a text from Carrie on the screen. Intrigued, he opened it, and read the one-line message.

_Watch out, the wolves are descending._

He turned in his seat, to mouth 'what?' at Carrie. But before he could catch her eye, a purple clad figure moved into his line of sight. Avril. A girl with a notorious crush on Oscar, whom Oscar himself found extraordinarily irritating.

"Do you need a hand with your chemistry Oscar?" She smiled at him.

"Er, no. No thanks, Avril." Something was pulsing nearby. He shoved his hand over the flashing red rubber, and shoved it back into his pencil case. "In fact, I have to go." He slid out from under his desk. "I've left my chemistry textbook in my locker." He left the classroom quickly, ignoring the sound of Avril calling "But Oscar, it's here. Your textbook is here."

He only stopped at the end of the corridor as the rest of his team-Rose Gupta and Carrie Stewart-caught up with him.

"You'd think with all of MI9's resources that they'd be able to do _something _about _her_," Oscar complained. Carrie giggled.

"Let's go." Ever the businesswoman, Rose kept them going towards the entrance to HQ. Oscar slid the cover over a light switch and pressed his thumb against a biometric lock. The door to the caretaker's cupboard opened and they stepped inside. Carrie took hold of a broom handle and pulled it towards her. Six bleeps emanated from hidden speakers, and then the floor plunged away, taking the three with it. The familiar feeling of free falling took hold of Oscar's stomach as they plunged down to their destination. In a flash, Oscar's uniform was replaced by black combats and a leather jacket. When they reached the metal doors which led into HQ, the other two had also changed into their spy uniform. The doors slid open to reveal a cavernous basement with a computer bank at the far end, science labs either side, and a very worried looking mentor standing in the middle of it.

"Team- come and have a look at this." He gestured towards the computer bank. The team followed him, and sat down. The bank had seven screens, but only one of them was live. The three looked at it with interest. On the screen were three photographs, slightly blurred, and out of focus. They were field shots, most probably taken by a hidden security camera. The first was of a handsome black boy, about sixteen, the second of a blonde boy, of about the same age and height. The third was of a girl, hovering in combat mode, facing off several black clad enemy agents, with wavy dark red hair, curling loosely to her shoulders.

"This is Team Sierra. They were a spy team- just like yourselves, until this happened." He hit a button on the keyboard and another photo flashed up on the screen. A young executive looking woman smiled out from behind the LCD screen.

"This is Jaycee Miranda Constance. She was twenty-seven, and a secretary in Communications until _this_ happened." A scanned document flashed up, with Coroner's Report stamped on the top in red.

"She died?" asked Rose, shocked.

"She was shot," Frank explained. The agents all looked up, shocked. "Two days ago, the communication link to all MI9 field agents was cut. When Jaycee alerted her boss to the emergency, this woman came to investigate." Yet another photo flashed up onto the screen. This was of another woman, in her thirties.

"She called herself Laura McKenzie. But on the day of the emergency, she didn't sign out at the end of the day. CCTV captured her going into the office, but she never came out. And fifteen minutes later, when Deputy Head of Comms Jason Lebbs arrived, he found the body and fully functioning communication strengths. Laura McKenzie was deemed a leak, but when MI9 guards were sent to arrest her- she was gone. As in all emergencies- every file in the building was checked to see if anything had been stolen. And at half past ten, one file was found to be missing." Frank hit the spacebar, and it returned to the very first image of the three agents.

"The Team Sierra File." Rose frowned.

"Exactly. And worse- we don't believe that it was pure chance that the leak grabbed that file. There are twenty-six teen units in operation. Each has a codename, and Team Sierra wasn't in prominent place amongst the files. Whoever took it, knew exactly what they were looking for. Sierra was working on a highly dangerous mission involving infiltrating SKUL. But after the file was taken, the Head of MI9 put out an Option Seven on them."

"Option Seven?" Oscar was puzzled.

"Emergency Temporary Undisclosed Relocation Operation." Rose recited.

"Oh," said Carrie, "I'm glad Rose pays attention in Security Training."

"It basically means sending the exposed spies to other units around the country, but that as few a people as possible know about where they've gone," Rose explained, "And that includes the agents themselves. They won't know where the other agents in their team have gone. That way, under no circumstances, can they tell the enemy where the rest of the team is."

"Quite right Rose," Frank agreed.

Carrie frowned "So what exactly has this got to do with us? Do you want to us to get the file back or something?"

"Not quite." Frank hit another button, and the screen zoomed in on a picture of the girl agent.

"This is Kate Taylor. She is sixteen, and has been at MI9 since she was seven. Her parents died when she was three, and was raised by her aunt who passed away last year in a care home."

"What's she got to do with us?" asked Carrie.

"When Option Seven is initiated, the mainframe compute generates a team for each agent to go to. A SWAT team is sent out to retrieve the agents immediately, and they are sent to different safe houses for three days, then they are sent on to the selected spy team for three weeks for safety. Even longer if the file is not retrieved. But when the computer generated a team for Kate, she was placed in Team Hope. You."

"Kate is coming to St. Hope's?"

"Tomorrow. She'll become a full member of the team. It is vital for her security, that to all intents and purposes, she **is** a full member of your team. You must also protect her. She can look after herself: she has good Karate skills, but bear in mind that SKUL have the advantage of knowing Kate's identity. " Oscar nodded.

"She's a particularly good gymnast; she came first in an MI9 competition last year, even beating Carrie. She has had extensive language, academic, sporting and intelligence training and she was placed in Team Sierra after being selected over dozens of other agents, along with Jack and Liam, her fellow team members. Well, now you're warned, off you go. It wouldn't do to miss any more chemistry, would it now Oscar?"

"See you tomorrow then Frank," said Carrie, her heart sinking. She did remember Kate now. The gymnastic competition had been a disaster after Carrie went over awkwardly on her ankle in the middle of her performance. But the way Frank had described her...If the girl was a boasting brat type, the next three weeks looked to be unbearable.


	4. Kate

**Disclaimer: Not writing it again... look at chapter 2. Oh yeah I own Sam as well...**

"You ready Kate?" asked Sam, "Have you got everything? All your clothes?"

"What little there is to be had," joked Kate, looking at her three plastic carrier bags, and rucksack. The surprise arrival of a SWAT team in the middle of the night, three days ago, meant that Kate had only had time to grab a couple of pairs of jeans, T-shirts and jackets. But earlier that morning, a package had arrived with the most revolting school uniform ever inside it. Kate, reluctantly, had put it on, but wore it casually, with the tie loose, and a thin lavender jacket on instead of the regulation scratchy maroon sweater. Sam, the carer who had been looking after Kate for the past three days, had shaken his head, and remarked that he hoped that Kate wouldn't get into trouble with her new school. Kate had shrugged, and carried on packing her jeans.

"Kate?" Sam called as Kate picked up her bags, and prepared to walk downstairs with the laden carrier bags. "I got a message this morning, saying that an agent would drop off some of your clothes today, into your new base."

"Oh good. I was wondering how I'd manage the next few weeks with so few clothes. Considering how crap I am at ironing." Kate said dryly. Sam laughed. They both stopped what they were doing at the sound of the car pulling up outside.

"That's me," Kate said, a touch sadly. She had been in a lot of care homes since her aunt had sent her to MI9, and she had made many friends, but it was always sad saying goodbye, even if, like Sam, she had only known them for a few days.

"Oh and Kate," Sam said. Kate turned around, bags in hand, rucksack on shoulder, puzzled expression on her face. "Look after yourself!" he smiled. Kate grinned back, and walked through the door out to the anonymous black car waiting for her.

Kate recognized parts of Ealing as they drove through the streets. The driver was silent, keeping his eyes straight ahead. He didn't even try to make conversation. Kate reached into one of the carrier bags, and pulled out a padded envelope. It was lumpy, indicating that it held several items. It had been sent that morning, along with her St. Hope's uniform. She slid her finger under the seal of the padded envelope, and slit it open, scattering the contents over her lap. She picked up a black mobile phone, and slid it open. Kate hadn't been allowed to take her mobile phone with her, in case SKUL managed to track her down using cell tower triangulation. The screen was blank, apart from the time and date. She pressed the button for contacts, and scrolled down. There were only five contacts. Frank, Rose, Oscar, Carrie, and Emergency. She slid the phone shut, but as an afterthought, slid it open again, and began dialling a mobile number. But as she reached the fourth number, she stopped. He would have a new phone on him, with a number she didn't know. She slid the phone shut, and sat with her eyes closed for a few moments. A single tear slid out from under her lashes, which she hastily brushed away. It's only for a few weeks, she told herself firmly, and continued inspecting the pack.

A yellow pencil was next to be pulled from the envelope, which she recognized as a LEAD pencil- a Learning Environment Agent Device, from her communication's training last year. Next came a small iPod-like device, which recorded voices, and sent them as messages. It also had a GPS built in. The final things in the envelope were two gel pens, but Kate knew that the gel was short for gelignite. They were miniature bombs. She slid them into her pencil case along with the pencil, making a mental note not to let her new classmates borrow them. She tucked the phone and the iPod into a shoulder bag Sam had given her to use as a school bag, and turned to gaze out of the window, trying to work out where the car was.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up outside a dingy inner city school. She noticed the school sign as they drove past. She checked her watch- half-past seven. Much too early for any of the other students to have arrived.

"Thanks for the lift," she said to the driver, as she picked up her carrier bags, and slid out of the car. She had been told that someone would be waiting, so she felt nervous as she looked across the deserted grounds.

"Are you Kate?" She turned sharply to see a blue jump-suited caretaker looking at her. "I'm Frank, Frank London," he smiled, holding out his hand. She shook it.

"Kate," she replied.

"Welcome to St. Hope's. Are those your bags?" he asked. She nodded.

"There wasn't a lot of time to pack – the SWAT team that arrived at half ten at night were quite insistent that we get off."

"Good thing too- the SKUL agents arrived not fifteen minutes later." Kate was surprised. She hadn't heard that at the safe house.

"They didn't hurt anyone, did they?" He shook his head. "And I am told that the rest of your team are quite well."

"Oh... good," she said.

"I'll show you around." Kate left with her new boss, her thoughts hundreds of miles away.


	5. New Arrivals

**Disclaimer: Same as chapter 2**

Oscar's thoughts were miles away. The boys at the foster home where Oscar lived had had an Xbox tournament last night, which had ended with the carer yelling at them to go to bed at half past one in the morning. He had had less than five hours sleep, and it showed now, as he moved through the crowds of St. Hope's students.

"Oscar!" Carrie called. He turned to find both girls striding up the corridor towards him. Carrie looked daisy fresh, no doubt having spent fifteen minutes secretly in the school gym that morning, training and practising her gymnastics.

"Where are you going?" Carrie asked.

"Er... I thought we were going to Physics."

"We're going to HQ, to meet the new girl, remember?" Carrie looked surprised. "Why do you look so tired?"

"I am tired. There was an Xbox tournament at the Home last night." Carrie smiled.

"Boys just don't know where the off switch is."

"Come_ on,_" said Rose, "Frank'll be annoyed if we're late. Especially as the new girl is arriving today." The three agents set off through the corridors to the caretaker's cupboard. Carrie pressed her thumb against the lock, and the door swung open. The three stepped inside, and Oscar shut the door. Carrie reached out for the broom handle, and then hesitated.

"Er...guys? You know yesterday, when Frank was describing the new girl? Did she sound a bit like a brat to you? I mean all the languages, academic brilliance and etcetera." Oscar and Rose looked at her, expressions quizzical.

"And, when I competed in the gymnastic contest, and then hurt my ankle, practically everyone in the competition came to see me in the hospital wing. But not her, not the winner. Doesn't that say something about her?"

Ever the peace-maker, Rose simply said. "Let's see her before we judge her." Carrie took hold of the broom handle, and pulled it back.

Down in HQ, Kate, now dressed in black leggings, black long sleeved T-shirt and a short sleeved black zip-up hoodie, listened to their conversation with a sinking heart. They didn't like her already and they hadn't even met her yet. Frank noticed her worried expression.

"Don't worry Kate; they're great people, really nice. I'm sure they're just being cautious." Kate did not smile.

A low mechanical thump heralded the arrival of the lift. The lift slid open to reveal three agents, dressed in spy suits similar to the one she wore. Unlike her own team, there were two girls and only one boy. Kate glanced down at the floor, too nervous to look directly at them.

Oscar, Carrie and Rose all looked intently at the new girl. She didn't look like a boasting brat kind of girl. She looked almost afraid of them. She looked up at them quickly, and then stared at the floor.

"Agents, I'd like you to meet Kate Taylor."

Kate stood up, aware of every gaze in the room being trained on her. How she hated, more than anything else, was being the centre of attention. It made her uneasy. She looked up at her three new team mates. They were all looking interestedly at her, but none smiled. They hovered like this for a few moments before the black girl on the left seemed to take the situation into her own hands. She bounded forwards, a fake smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm Carrie. You must be Kate." Kate smiled.

"Hey Carrie. You're the brilliant gymnast, aren't you?"

Carrie's face split into a real smile. Behind her Oscar and Rose also smiled. The new girl didn't seem so bad after all. Rose was right.

Kate still felt uneasy, but continued. "We competed in the same gymnastics competition last year. You hurt your ankle, didn't you?" Carrie threw a glance back to the other two.

"Yes. Yes, I did. You won didn't you?" Kate nodded.

"I'm sorry I didn't come and see you after the performance. I wanted to but my team was called out to South Africa to connect with a reconnaissance mission, straight after the competition. And when I got back, you had left the training centre." Carrie nodded. Rose decided to follow Carrie's lead, and she stepped forwards.

"Hi Kate, I'm Rose Gupta." She held out a hand to the other girl. Kate held out her own hand, to shake, but Rose started as she noticed a livid red scar standing out against the pale skin. Kate noticed Rose's look and she shook Rose's hand quickly, before hiding it behind her back. Oscar also stepped forwards.

"And I'm Oscar." Kate smiled up at him.

"You're the one who speaks fourteen languages?" Oscar grinned and nodded.

"You're better than me right there. I speak nine."

Oscar laughed. "Nine is still pretty good."

"Well, I've lived in many of the places, so it comes sort of naturally." Rose was surprised at that. Typically, she had researched Kate, and Team Sierra in the MI9 files, but even with Frank's borrowed security clearance, she had been refused access. Therefore, Rose knew next to nothing about her, and knowing nothing was a feeling Rose did not like.

"Team." Frank's voice brought them towards the bank of computer screens. On-screen was a scrolling bar of text, with the Code Breaker written in green text beside it. Oscar's face lit up.

"Code-breaking. Cool."

"Actually Oscar, you won't be doing any code breaking today. You four are actually going to lessons for once. We can't have you suspended now, especially not under the circumstances. Besides, it wouldn't do for Kate to be late on her first day of school here would it? Off you go, and I shall see you later."


	6. Avril

When the lift stopped at the caretaker's cupboard, the four were now wearing school uniform. Oscar wore his casually, with the neck unbuttoned, and his hair had been mussed up. Rose was playing the geeky good girl, her tie done up properly, skirt below the knee, hair tied back into a ponytail. She was even wearing the revolting maroon sweater. Carrie wore her uniform similarly to Kate. She too had spurned the sweater in favour of a short sleeved jacket.

"Which class are you in Kate?" asked Rose as they stepped into the main corridor of the school. Hundreds of students were moving through the corridors.

"Someone called Mr Flatley's," Kate answered, slinging her blue school bag over her shoulder.

"Oh same as us. Cool." Carrie grinned. The four winded through the corridors to the first floor Year Eleven classroom. Kate got a few interested stares from other students, particularly boys, but she didn't seem to notice. She ignored them, spending most of the journey answering Carrie's questions. Rose listened with interest. The new girl was like an unsolved problem, and Rose Gupta could never resist a mystery. Kate seemed happy enough to answer Carrie's questions about clothes, gymnastics, school subjects, but she clammed up when Carrie asked about her real team, her previous missions or her past. Oscar walked in silence, and Kate surprised everyone when she leaned over, and asked if he was okay.

"I'm fine," he muttered, "But Avril is walking behind us." Kate turned, and saw a pale girl with purple highlights in her dark hair, looking at Kate with envy.

"Does she have a crush on you?" she asked. Carrie scoffed.

"Oh, just a little one." Kate laughed.

"Do you want to get rid of her? Jack, Li and I used to entertain ourselves getting rid of crushes." Rose was surprised by the mention of Kate's teammates. She had been very monosyllabic when asked about her team before now.

"Get rid of Avril? Hell yeah." Oscar grinned. Kate smiled.

"I'll have a go later, if you want."

"We're in here," Rose said, gesturing to a yellow door at the far end of the corridor. "Oh hang on. Kate have you got a pencil?"

"Right here." Kate pulled the yellow pencil from her pocket. "Good," Rose said, as she pushed open the door. Kate walked into the most chaotic classroom imaginable.

"This should be fun," she remarked, delighted. The others smiled. The classroom was impossibly loud, and the three girls spent half the lesson sitting on a desk at the back of the classroom, laughing at Oscar's attempts to run away from Avril. When Oscar finally collapsed down onto the desk beside them, he looked severely irritated.

"Did you say you could get rid of her?" Oscar asked.

"Sure. Jack and Liam have to do it all the time."

"How can you do it?" asked Rose. It would be a miracle if Kate could get rid of Avril.

"You'll like it, Rose. It's kind of like a theory." Carrie and Oscar leaned in, fascinated. "Basically, in every crush the worst feeling is jealousy. To get rid of a crush, you exploit it. It's kind of mean, but..."

"But if it gets rid of Avril, I don't care," said Oscar.

"Okay. First step is making Avril jealous," Kate began.

"That's Carrie's job sorted then," laughed Rose.

"If you think I'm going to..." Carrie began.

"Come on Carrie," Kate said, "It isn't for real, and it'll get Avril off of Oscar's case." Carrie hesitated, but then shrugged.

"All right," she said, "What do I have to do?"

Kate smiled. "If it's any consolation, I know how you feel. The boys weren't too keen on pretending that they were gay, so I was always the brunt of it." Rose and Oscar burst out laughing. Kate was genuinely funny, and they couldn't help but like her. "Though I did get my own back in a different school, when a boy had a crush on _me._ It does make school more interesting though."

"What do we do?" asked Carrie.

"First of all, we wait until Avril offers to do something for you. Does she do that?"

"All the time."

"Okay, so when Avril asks you to do something, you claim that you are doing something with Carrie which sounds a bit like a date, like pizza or a movie. Then you carry on doing that any time she asks you do anything."

"Then what?"

"Just that for now. You go and sit over there, with Carrie, and me and Rose will sit here and watch."

"This'll be entertaining," Rose grinned. Carrie and Oscar leapt up onto one of the science benches, and pretended to become immersed in conversation. It wasn't long before Avril slid her chair over.

"Hey Oscar," she said. "Here, I wrote down some notes for the chemistry lesson you missed yesterday."

"Er thanks Avril." Oscar muttered, stuffing the sheet of paper into his pocket, and turning back to look at Carrie.

"Did you want to go over them? You could come to my house after school if you like." Avril sounded excited, and Oscar smiled.

"Sorry Avril. I'm going to Carrie's." Carrie smiled at Avril. Avril turned away, crushed. Oscar turned back to Carrie, and continued his conversation with Carrie. But, as usual, Avril chipped in, and Oscar turned her down again. Kate, watching from the other side of the classroom, had to hand it to Avril. The girl was determined. But so was Kate.

At half past ten, the bell rang, and the four picked up their bags and left the classroom.

"How'd it go?" asked Rose.

"Good," said Carrie. Oscar nodded.

"What do we do now?"

"PDAs."

Carrie looked disgusted. "No way." Rose giggled.

"Just holding hands, arm round shoulders etcetera. We want Avril to get so mad that she gets verbally aggressive towards Carrie, then Oscar steps in, is rude to Avril, and tells her not to be jealous. Then usually, the girl goes off in a huff, and get so mad at you, they get over their crush."

"Oh." Carrie sounded surprised. Kate laughed.

"It'll work, trust me. It always does."

The next lesson they had was with feared deputy headmistress Mrs King. This lesson was more disciplined than the last. Mrs King was a large formidable woman, and most at St. Hope's, including the headmaster feared her. Kate had her worst fears confirmed at the beginning of the lesson when Mrs King grabbed her arm and tugged her to the front of the class. The class was quiet now under Mrs King's glare, looking intently at the new girl.

"Class, this is Kate Taylor. Please make her very welcome here at St. Hope's. Go on Kate." Kate walked down the aisle and collapsed into the empty seat next to Oscar, cheeks flaming as bright as her hair.

"I hate being the centre of attention," she confided in a whisper to him.

Oscar grinned at her. "Then it's kind of good that you're a spy."

"Oscar!" shouted Mrs King, "I understand that you are trying to make Kate feel welcome, but I would appreciate it if you welcomed her at break." Oscar slumped back in his seat.

Kate leaned over and whispered "Bit strict then is she?"


	7. Gadgets

Mrs King's lesson dragged on and on. All four kept their yellow pencils just poking out of their pencil cases, longing to see the rubber flash, so they could escape the boredom. On the plus side, the looks Avril were shooting in the direction of Kate were pretty envious.

Keeping it concealed beneath the desk, Kate slid her mobile from her jacket pocket and slid it open. Oscar leaned over, and peeked at the screen. Kate was dialling a number, the same eleven numbers, sliding it shut, re-opening it, and type it out again, then slide it shut.

"Who's number is that?" asked Rose, sitting on the other side of Kate. Kate started so badly, Rose felt bad. "Sorry," she said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No it's okay," Kate muttered, shoving the phone the phone back into her pocket. "There's no point anyway. They took his phone away"

Finally the bell rang, and after copying down the homework, the class left, out of the classroom into the late May sun.

"Hey Kate," Carrie said. "I don't know about what you do before school, but I always hit the gym for an hour. Those two are too lazy, but maybe you want to…"

"That would be great." Kate said, quietly. Before anyone could say anything else, an insistent beeping from their pockets interrupted.

"He had to wait until Maths was over, didn't he?" remarked Kate.

"Typical Frank," Carrie agreed.

Five minutes later, all four stood in the centre of cavernous HQ, waiting for Frank to explain the call. Two of the screens were live, but they only showed the rotating MI9 logo.

"Agents. Thank you for coming down so quickly. We have a situation which we need your help with. He removed a remote control from his pocket and pointed it at the screen.

"This is the EDC warehouse on the edge of Kensington. It was perfectly ordinary, until about three months ago, when MI9 got wind that it was being used as an anti-intelligence base. Basically, it is being used as a place where criminals on the radar of MI6, 7, 8 and 9 and their valuable information, can hide. We want you to break in, grab a couple of random files, snap a couple of pictures, so we can get a scope of the security system before we do a huge raid on it next week."

"What now?" asked Carrie, startled. It wasn't the fact that she resented going on a mission, just the suddenness. "Well, we'd better be back for gym."

"No problem. All we want is a general stake of the building, security systems etcetera."

"Okay..."

"Your gadgets." Frank said, reaching behind one of the TV monitors and withdrawing a black catch suitcase. He flicked open the catches and opened the lid. He turned the case around so that we could see the contents, and reached inside, withdrawing four little boxes. He handed one to each of us.

"CamTact Lenses. Blink once to take a photo; blink twice to film until you blink again to end the recording." I opened the lid and looked at the clear lenses nestling in the cotton wool.

"Girls, you all have your ears pierced?" All three nodded. "Then take these." He passed a little box to each of them, similar in size to the one before, but when they opened them; two gold studs lay on the cotton, instead of clear film.

"Be careful with those. They are miniature bombs, designed to blow the locks off doors. And since you, Oscar, don't put bits of metal through your ears, you can have this." He pulled out a steel watch.

"Ooh swanky." Carrie grinned.

It's a telecommunications device. Works a little like your pencils, but far more limited. It can only reach other TC devices on the same wavelength. In this case I have tuned it into Carrie's pencil, and my mobile phone." Oscar picked up the watch, and slid it over his wrist.

Ok then. Your mission has rendezvous point at the EDC warehouse at eleven tonight." From far above them, came the faint echoing sound of the school bell.

"You're late. Off you go. And girls?" We turned. "Don't let Scoop from your class near those earrings." All four laughed, and stepped into the lift.


	8. Fire Escapes and Flashlights

**Finally- some action! Yay... this is good I promise, but there's a funny bit in the next chapter ;D**

It was almost half-past eleven when Kate slipped out the front door of the safe house. She was back in her black clothes, but with the gold studs through her earlobes, and the contact lenses over her irises. For luck, she also wore her birthday present butterfly necklace under her top.

Oscar and Rose were waiting for her at the end of the street. They grinned as she approached.

"Where's Carrie?" asked Kate.

"She has a nine o'clock curfew." Oscar explained, as they turned to walk down the street.

"So she isn't coming?"

Oscar scoffed. "Since when does that ever stop anyone? No, she's coming. She just has to employ...unusual methods to get out of her house." Kate shrugged.

"Never stopped me, but I would have thought you lot would have been goody goodies, y'know, sitting at home, actually doing your homework, bed at seven, etcetera."

"Nah, that's just Rose." Kate giggled as Rose pretended to swat him.

"There's Carrie's." Oscar said, pointing to a block of flats. "Her flat is on the top floor." Kate looked. There were seven floors on the block, and Carrie's appeared to be right in the middle of the top floor. "And that's Carrie's room." Kate realised that they were round the back of the flats. The front doors were on the other side, but as she watched, one of the windows was opened, and a black clad figure slid out.

"Is that Carrie?" asked Kate. Oscar nodded. "Is she nuts?"

"No, she just doesn't have a sense of danger. At all." Rose said, by way of explanation. Kate raised an eyebrow.

"You'd have to." As they watched, Carrie reached the first floor, and let go of the wall, landing like a cat, on top of the huge industrial bins.

"Ew." Kate muttered.

The three jogged over to her as she jumped down from the bin.

"Heyya," she grinned. "Let's go. Mum was really, really annoyed about something today. I hate to think what, but if she finds I'm not in the flat..." She drew a hand across her throat. The others grinned. Rose pulled out her spy pod, slid it open, and pointed to the map on the screen.

"The EDC is about a mile from here. We'll need to run. Everyone ok with running?"

Kate nodded. "Running happens to me a lot. Particularly when someone is chasing me. Let's go."

It took them less than fifteen minutes to reach the warehouse, with a race between Carrie and Kate at the end. Kate reached the wall first, with Carrie slapping her palm onto it two seconds later.

"Oh, you won." Carrie grinned, as she turned around to watch Oscar and Rose running towards them, out of breath.

"You two need to spend more time on the treadmill," Kate grinned, "Trust me. It helps when you're running away from a couple of hefty looking dudes, who look just about ready to slug you. It's even more threatening when they have Irish accents."

"Irish accents?" Oscar asked, as he knelt down to give Rose a leg up over the wall.

"The boys decided that people are scarier when they have Irish accents." Kate explained, as Rose grabbed hold of the top of the wall, and swung her legs over.

Carrie nodded. "Though personally I find it scarier when they don't talk, but grunt. Kinda implies that they are half gorilla, so, y'know."

"True," Kate agreed, spurning Oscar's offer of a leg up, and looking up, getting a measure of the height of the wall. "Though I've encountered quite a few Irish agents, and they are hell scary."

"What are you doing?" asked Oscar, but before he could say anymore, Kate had taken the wall at a run, jumped, grabbed hold of the top of the wall, and, using the momentum of her jump, somersaulted over. Rose, watching from the top of the wall, nodded her approval, as Kate landed on her feet, and threw up her arms in a gymnast's end position.

"Not bad," complimented Carrie, making a more modest jump down.

"Sorry. It's just been ages since I had a chance to practise the vault, because they didn't have it in Ireland, where I was posted." Kate explained, a soft blush flushing on her cheeks.

"You were posted in Ireland?" asked Rose, interestedly.

"Six months, me and the boys, but I'll tell you later. Right now we've got a warehouse to crash."

The warehouse was dark as they approached. Kate stared up at the building. It looked more like an aircraft hangar than a warehouse, but the doors were chained and bolted.

"Up there," whispered Rose, pointing towards a fire escape. Quietly, they made their way over the deserted square, towards the fire escape, but froze when a security light flashed on, and the sound of a door opening round the other side could be heard. Kate grabbed hold of Oscar and Carrie's sleeves, and pulled them towards the side of the warehouse. She flattened herself against the wall, and the others did the same, before peering round the side. A burly man had come out onto the scrubby grassland, shining a flashlight around the area.

"Find anything?" shouted someone, out of sight.

"Stray cat probably," replied the man with the flashlight. Kate exhaled in relief as the light from the torch vanished, and the man's heavy footsteps faded away. Rose was already making her way towards the fire escape.

**Ok- so this is kinda short, but I have a little thing called writer's block, and my incredibly annoying school has blocked fan fic (why?) so there isn't much in this chapter. But the next chapter will be better **

**Kisses, hugs and pixie dust xx**

**P.S. reviews are love. And chocolate. Xxx**


	9. Photos

Kate winced as the steel door scraped over the metal fire escape. Oscar fought with the door, trying to open it as quietly as possible. It was difficult- the door was rusty and the hinges squeaked, but eventually he opened the door enough for them to slip through.

It was dark inside, eerily so. Oscar shivered, but stepped inside. Carrie threw him a look, smiling knowingly, which Kate did not miss. She saw Oscar's apprehensive look, as they walked inside, and realised. Feeling sorry for him, she dug in her pocket, and pulled out four little black cases. She'd stuffed them in her pocket on an impulse, after seeing them resting on one of the carrier bags. She handed each one out to the others. They stared at it in puzzlement.

"What's this?" asked Oscar, turning it over in his hand.

"Night-vision goggles. I got given them by a South African girl. The South African's use them out on the savannah, to see animals roaming about, and to look for poachers after them." She unfolded the sunglasses, and slid them over her eyes. The others copied her, and Oscar's shoulders visibly relaxed. Carrie turned her nightscope on Oscar, and giggled.

"Suits you," she teased.

"Sssh," Rose, muttered, glaring at her spy-pod.

Oscar pulled his VSP from his pocket. "This might be easier," he told Rose, switching the device on. But before any of them could examine the screen, their pencils flashed. Kate had been kneeling a few metres away, peering over the banisters. She pulled her pencil from her belt, and held it against her ear. Frank's voice came echoing into their ears.

"Agents? How's it going?"

"We're in," Rose said, "Not much security, but we're only just in the door."

"Keep me posted," replied Frank. Kate clicked her pencil off.

"Look at this," she whispered. The others came over, and peered through the banisters. Down, on the enormous concrete floor, were six men patrolling, heavily armed.

"So much for little security," Kate muttered.

"This way," Carrie whispered. She was pointing down a corridor. "VSP says there's no-one down there." The others followed, gazing apprehensively down the corridor.

They moved as quickly and quietly as possible down the corridor, but stopped as they reached a fork, now lighted. Kate pulled off her nightglasses.

"Which way?" asked Carrie. Oscar looked at the VSP.

"That way," he muttered, pointing down the left fork.

The fork had flickering lights along it, and offices lined either wall.

"Split up," suggested Kate. Oscar went into the first on the left, and Kate went into the first on the right. The room was piled with papers, and Kate set to work on the nearest one.

Two hours later, her eyes were watering from blinking. She had managed to blink her way through most of the papers, and replaced them as before. Rose had joined her by now, and Oscar and Carrie were checking out the building. Apparently Kate had drawn the short straw with the room she was in. The others didn't have as many folders, and had managed to complete the other offices. But Kate was good at quickly photographing documents

"I think that's it," Rose said, replacing the folder she had been scanning through.

"Then let's get out of here," Kate said, heading for the door, pulling out her pencil as she went.

"Frank? We're outta here, and we've scanned the files we could find." She hung up, and then connected to Carrie and Oscar.

"Hello?" asked Carrie.

"Carrie, we're done here. Are you ready?"

"We're on our way already."

Rose had already gone by the time Kate turned, but as Kate slid her pencil back in her pocket, her hand brushed a file, knocking it from the pile. She knelt down to gather the papers back onto their folder, but stopped in shock, at one of the pictures which had slid out of the file. She picked up the photo, hoping to see some sort of trick, but it wasn't. It wasn't a trick.

"No way," Kate whispered.

She shoved the other papers back into the folder and stuffed the photo in her pocket.

Rose and the other were waiting outside. Kate forced a smile for them, but she could feel the photo burning a hole in her pocket.


	10. Laser Alarms

Rose glanced down at her watch. "One hour, forty minutes. Not bad. Let's go"

Carrie set off at a run, but as the others followed a loud thump sounded up ahead.

"Carrie?" Kate stopped and knelt down beside her. She was sprawled on the floor, eyes closed. Kate looked back, and was startled to see a black wire, now lying in two pieces, attached to the wall. Rose bent down, and took one in her hand.

"Tripwire?" Rose asked, incredulously. Carrie's eyes opened, and she moaned. Oscar supported her, as she stood up uneasily.

But they had barely a few seconds relief, before a flashing red light started up, and a deafening alarm began shrieking out.

"Crap," shouted Kate. "This way!" She tugged Oscar's sleeve, and they set off at a run. The threatening sound of thudding feet started up.

"I hope they're not Irish," muttered Kate, as they ran. Another fork. Rose chose the left one again, but they skidded to a halt when they saw what was around the corner. A crisscross of laser alarms stretched the entire length of the corridor. Rose looked around frantically for a control panel, and saw it. At the other end of the corridor.

Kate saw where she was looking.

"My kinda job," she said. "You too Carrie?" Carrie grinned.

"What're you..." began Oscar, but broke off, as Kate and Carrie took up positions in front of the alarm and leapt forward into a chain of handsprings, contorting their bodies over the alarms, until they reached the control panel.

"What do we do?" asked Carrie.

"Pull out the red wire and cut it." Kate reached into the box, pulled out the red wire, and severed it on the diamond wire she had put in her hair earlier. She tied it back in, as the alarm vanished, and Oscar and Rose ran through.

"Good thinking," said Oscar. He grinned at her. It was an uncharacteristic gesture for the usually serious-faced Oscar. But the deafening alarm hadn't been silenced, and already they could hear thudding feet coming towards them.

"This way!" shouted Carrie. She was wrestling with a heavy door, trying to shove it open.

"No good," Rose said, pointing to the lock. It had been reinforced with heavy-duty steel. "But each door is only as strong as its weakest point..." She broke off as Kate launched a kick at the door, dead in the centre. It splintered, and Kate pushed out more of the wood. Rose slid through.

"It's clear," she said.

Oscar used his VSP to navigate the way through the corridors. According to the gadget, there were only ten people in the building. Ten wasn't too bad, but none of them had any means of determining the sort of weapons they had. But the VSP came in useful in avoiding the little green dots on the screen.

"Look," Oscar exclaimed, pointing to something on the VSP. "There's an exit there, and if we run, we'll beat the others."

But Oscar's plan came to a flaw. Another door, this one fully steel, stood in the way. Carrie looked at Kate, knowing that neither of them could kick their way through steel. But Kate had slid on of the studs out of her ear, her last one, having used the other to break into the paperwork office. She tucked it in the lock, and stepped back. Two seconds later, a silent explosion blew the lock from the wood, and Rose pushed the door open. But to their horror, a huge, threatening man stood in front of them. Oscar looked down at the VSP. It had gone blank. The man held up a black box, which they all recognized as a signal jammer.

"That's cheating," snapped Kate.


	11. Annoying SKUL Employees

"This is a bit low for SKUL, don't you think?" Oscar and the others couldn't see why Kate was so intent on antagonizing their guard. It didn't seem sensible when the guard had a gun. A very big gun. They were standing handcuffed in the centre of the aircraft hangar.

"Shut up." The guard spoke in broken English, with an Eastern European accent. "You wait. People want see you." He broke off as thudding feet sounded to their left. A male voice, clipped and precise echoed out around the hangar as a young man came down the steps, accompanied by two hefty SKUL agents, armed to the teeth. Kate groaned.

"Oh anyone but you," she complained. "Guess the Grandmaster is going own in employees. At least send someone who actually scares me..."

"Oh Kate. Kate. Kate Kate. How we've missed you." The others stared at Kate. Missed?

"I can't really say I return the favour."

"Well, no. SKUL yesterday, MI9 today.""That's not true. You know it wasn't like that, Travis. I was never SKUL. And nor were the boys" _SKUL??_

"Really? Do I really believe that you were an enemy agent?"

"Oh I'm sorry. Was the fire we set against all of your files not a big enough sign for you?"

"You were an MI9 agent then, yes... But are you really ready to go back. Wouldn't you like to meet her one more time?"

"I never wanted to meet her in the first place!" Kate shouted, making everyone jump. "And I'm never going to be SKUL. You know that."

"Do I? Because it seems the Grandmaster seems to be ready to forgive you. That's why I'm here. If you agree to come back to SKUL, we'll let you go."

"All of us? Including these guys?"

"Well..."

"I'm out."

"But think about it Kate. You could have Jack and Liam back. Be SKULTeam1 again."

"That isn't going to happen until you give back the Sierra file. I don't know where they are, and I won't know until you give back the file."

"Easily overcome. But Kate, you were such a good agent for us. It's hard to believe that you truly weren't on our side. Besides, what exactly does MI9 pay you for your _devotee_ service?"

"None of your business. But there is one thing SKUL should invest in." Kate smiled at the man.

"And that is?" The SKUL agent smiled, clearly in control.

"Better handcuffs."


	12. Question Time

Kate lunged forward, her hands free of the cuffs. Two heavies lunged for her almost instantly, sliding their guns from the holsters. She skirted round them easily, knocking their heads together, and stealing both guns from their unresisting hands, as they collapsed to the ground, dazed. Travis jumped forward, aiming his gun at her.

"Stop right now."

"Do the maths Travis. You have one gun, I have two." Travis shrugged, raising his gun. Kate raised hers, aimed and shot. It hit Travis's hand, blasting the gun from his hand. The agent clutched his hand to his chest, cradling it, as blood trickled from a superficial wound along the thumb bone.

"Stay down," Kate warned. Keeping one gun trained on Travis, she beckoned to the other three. They stepped forward, avoiding the dazed guards, to stand beside Kate, their hands still bound by the handcuffs Kate had managed to wriggle out of.

"Stay still, she whispered, tucking one gun into her pocket, and pulling out a hairpin.

"Here," she muttered, pressing it into the lock of Rose's and twisting it until she heard it click. Rose slid her wrists from the metal band, and took Kate's hairpin to unlock the other cuffs. When Oscar and Carrie were free, Kate pulled out the second gun, and handed it to Oscar. His face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. Kate grinned, as she pulled the flashing pencil from her pocket.

"Frank?" Rose asked.

"Where have you been?" asked Frank. His voice sounded panicked.

"We ran into a little bit of trouble, but we're fine now. Can you send the van to pick us up, plus a prison one? We got a little SKUL trouble."

"They'll be at the front gates in two minutes." The call ended.

"Let's go," Kate said, leaning forward to pick up the discarded cuffs on the ground in order to bind Travis. She looked up when the others made no move to help. All three had their arms folded and their eyebrows raised.

"Are you coming?" Kate asked.

Oscar nodded. "But now we want answers. And you have to answer all of them."

Kate looked down, her fringe hiding her face as she clicked the handcuffs onto the agent. "Okay."

***

"So... who are you?" Rose sat across from Kate in HQ, on one of the computer chairs, with Oscar and Carrie on the other two. Kate was perched on the desk.

"I'm Kate Taylor. You know that."

"That would be Kate Taylor, Sierra Team?" Kate nodded. "So tell us. What is Sierra?"

"Um," Kate bit her lip, "Do you know how the MI9 teen units are structured?" Rose nodded, but Kate and Oscar shook their heads, so Kate explained.

"There are twenty-six units in operation. You are Team Hope, you know that. Blane and Daisy, Rose's old teammates, are team Alpha, and I worked with them once or twice." Rose smiled.

"Another one you probably know is Team Zebra, Lewis, Violet and the Worm, as he is so affectionately known. So basically there is one team for every letter of the alphabet. When one team grows too old to be a teenage unit, they go into active service, and are replaced by a new team. There are also specialist units. Alpha is one. Blane Daisy and Ellen are in charge of recruiting new agents. Glee is another. They work on rooting out corrupt high ups inside the government. Sierra is the third specialist team. We were created just after the Grand Master discovered the existence of teen units."

"The Grand Master knew? All this time when we were trying to pretend..." Rose asked.

"But," Kate continued, "Far from destroying us, he decided to create his own team. SKULTeam1. MI9, soon as they found out, saw a prime opportunity. They chose three agents from three various teams, and created a new team. Sierra. They trained us up, and left us in three care homes for SKUL to find. And the Grand Master took the bait. He trained us up, never suspecting that we were double agents. He sent us undercover on a dozen missions, and we pulled it off without injuring anyone in the process. For about a year, it worked. We lived at SKUL, and passed on vital information to MI9. Then on my fourteenth birthday, of all days, a leak in MI9 found a birthday card, sent from a secretary I once knew for me, and found out that I was a double agent. We had to run off in the dead of night. But being troublemakers, we ran through the warehouse where SKUL kept all their information files. Liam was carrying a lighter in his emergency pack, and we set off a fire, destroying all SKUL's files. When we got back to MI9, and they learned what had happened, they immediately packed us off together to a random country, as far away from SKUL as possible. They settled on Ireland."

"That's why you're scared of hefty dudes with Irish accents." Carrie grinned.

Kate nodded. "We were together in Ireland, for about six months. We got a bit bored, so we got involved with some of the united Ireland movement. We leaked a ton of stuff to the police about car bombs and stuff. That's why sometimes; my voice has a little Irish edge to it. Jack used to call me a little Irish miss." Kate's voice caught a little on Jack's name, but she carried on. "But then SKUL found out. And that's when things got ugly."


End file.
